GATE - ORIGINS
by carlos olivera
Summary: In the year 537 Ab Urbe Condita, Rome is about to fall against Hannibal's forces in the Second Punic War. Before it's too late, a selected group of colonists is entrusted with a very important mission: to reach a place beyond time and space and build a new colony. Because if Rome's fate is to vanish from Earth, maybe its flame will be able to rise again in another world.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Notes**_

 _Hi to everyone!^^_

 _With this story I wanted to give a plausible answer to a question that I personally asked myself since the first time I starter reading GATE's novels: **why is the Empire so similar to Rome?**_

 _The answer, or my personal one at least, will come with this collection of four short stories. Eacth story will be made of five chapters and settled during different periods of the Empire's history, from its first moments till the moment it became the Empire as we know it._

 _I'll try to be as relevant as possible with the original novels, just consider that Origins will be a prequel to my personal trilogy named Gate - Another (which however is thought too to be a more than plausible spin-off to the original Gate)_

 _Well' I suppose that's all!_

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _Cj Spenceer_

* * *

ACT I - ORTUS

* * *

1

There was nothing to do: the battle was simply lost.

All around them, entire legions were falling like thousands of mosquitoes, wiped away without mercy by the Carthaginians and their allies, the same tribes and city anciently spared and peacefully assimilated by the Republic and now turned against it at the first occasion.

Lucio looked in all directions, hoping with all of his heart to see the vessels or hear the horns calling the retreat, but nothing was happening: and in meantime, the encircling was proceeding, at the point that now there was only a small pathway between them and the sole hope for salvation.

Even if they were just rearguard, the battle at that point was less than fifty meters far from them, and the legionaries had to keep their shields endlessly raised to the sky to protect themselves from arrows, stones and all other things the enemy was launching against them.

Those idiots of the high command had accepted to fight despite everything, almost sure that their superior numbers and best knowledge of the battlefield were more than enough to assure victory: apparently, none of them had learned something from the battle along the Trasimenum, and now they were about to pay.

The Carthaginians' plan was obvious: note a single Roman had to escape from that trap.

The sole idea of being forced to see his soldiers massacred and slaughtered like pigs was more than what he could support.

«Lucio!» shouted at his side his trustworthy and loyal second in command Demetrio. «If we stay here, we're already dead! Where the fuck is the call for retreat?»

However, he didn't know what to think, or even what to do: he was just a centurion, he had no power or title to call a retreat by himself, and doing it was more than enough for an accusation of desertion.

«By Heracles, let them crucify me!» he finally said throwing away all fear and doubts. «Unit! Fall back!»

«Did you hear him?» Demetrio said again. «Retreat! Retreat! Remain in formation and fall back!»

Then, the almost one-hundred and fifty soldiers under their command started retreating, leaving behind the few of their companions still alive, poor souls destined to be their salvation by opposing one last stand against the enemy.

Lucio's centuria stepped back fifty meters, only occasionally attacked by some disorganized enemy units quickly neutralized by the well-trained and disciplined veterans placed on the frontline and along the flanks.

Then, once left the ring right on time before it was closed, the unit turned their back to the battlefield and started running, taking advantage from the fact that the Carthaginians were too much occupied in slaughtering the now fully entrapped Romans to take care of the few ones that had been able to escape.

But maybe Gods had chosen that not a single Roman had to survive that battle. A small group of equestrians of the enemy's rearguard suddenly appeared from behind a low hill, and when they noted the retreating column, they immediately charged.

«Defensive formation! Protect the flanks!» Lucio shouted immediately reaching the frontline.

The legionaries immediately regrouped, rising their shields to form a wall against the enemy and trying to think that survive against that charge meant to survive the entire battle and return home.

Lucio commanded to stay put until the equestrians were close enough, then he gave the order.

«Pilum!»

A rain of lances was thrown against the enemies and many of them, particularly among the Numidians of the light cavalry, fell from their horses and died mortally wounded; the others kept on charging, but by the time they finally reached the unit, Lucio and the others were ready to repel them.

Even if the Gauls following Hannibal were proud warriors, there was nothing they could do against a well-disposed Roman unit, but they had to hurry: the Carthaginians wouldn't take long to find them if they stayed there.

Following the moral code for a centurion, Lucio was fighting side by side with his soldiers, trying as possible to arrange things so that the ones in the first line were able to switch with the others behind them, so that the Gauls had always to fight with fresh and rested enemies.

Demetrio was not far from him, almost at the center of the formation, and unfortunately, that's where the enemies were putting most of their force in attacking. A breach suddenly opened when some of the Gauls successfully killed some of the Romans before others could take their place, and the half-Greek second in command found himself alone before knowing, with his left flank completely uncovered.

«Watch out!» Lucio shouted noting before him an equestrian charging right against him.

Without thinking twice the centurion left his place, and once recovered a lance from a dead enemy, he crossed almost the entire unit, reaching his friend right on time to pierce the Gaul right in his neck. Unfortunately his horse pranced, violently hitting the centurion in the process. The young men saw the word spinning around him and turning red due to the blood that falling from the wound on the head was entering in his eyes, and before knowing everything became dark.

«Lucio!» Demetrio shouted seeing him fall to the ground.

* * *

Like many other times, once again Lucio's dreams were filled with shadows, ghosts and visions.

In his almost seven years as a soldier, he had seen the worst thing, but nothing was like being forced to revive that cursed day: the day when had seen his beloved Giulia die in her arms.

They were both little more than boys when they chose to get married, and Giulia was neither fifteen when their first child, Marcus, was born; everything was going so well, so perfectly. They were happy, he had a fine career in the Army in front of him thanks to his good relationship with his Commander: but Gods sometimes can be really cruel.

Lidia's gestation had been difficult since the beginning, and ultimately led to Giulia's death immediately after her birth.

And that was the worst nightmare for him: being forced to revive both the birth of his daughter and the death of the his beloved wife.

Lucio saw her suffering during childbirth, and painfully push Lidia in his arms a second before dying, leaving him devastated by a pain that his newborn daughter was unable do relief.

Then, he woke up.

And the moment he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw wat the roof of a wooden building. He took a bit to remember what was happened, and the moment he understood he was still alive he looked around in search for answers.

Judging from the voices coming from the opened doors, he was still among Romans, and for now, this was more than enough to be satisfied. He was lying on a cot, with the head firmly bandaged, in what seemed being an impromptu field infirmary filled with wounded soldiers.

Everything was still confused due to the headache, at the point that when Lucio tried to get up he felt so much pain that he had to lie down again.

«Centurion!» said a familiar and friendly voice.

Lucio turned to the entrance, and a wave of joy filled his chest when he saw Demetrio taking seat next to the cot.

«Demetrio…»

«Do not force yourself. The surgeons said that you've been incredibly close to meet Caron. That horse has almost opened your head in two.»

Lucio then tried to look all around again, but the memory of the battle quickly came back to his mind.

«The fight! The unit!»

«The unit is safe. Shortly after you fainted, the enemy has retreated. We lost less than twenty soldiers.»

«Where… are we?»

«In Canusium*.»

«Canusium?»

«Yet. We met another retreating column after the battle and went here. You were very bad wounded, but the guys insisted to keep you with us.»

«So… they truly did it…» Lucio said in relief. «How many times I spent fainted?»

«You slept for almost three days. But given the circumstances, you've been lucky. That horse could open your head. Your helmet has been almost broken in two, and the surgeon had to put a metal plate to close the hole in your head.»

«This is the second time I save your butt, Demetrio.» Lucio said with a smile. «You should really learn to look after yourself.»

«Don't worry. I'll try to repay even this one at the first occasion.»

Then, they vigorously shook hands.

«Thanks, Lucio. Now I owe you my life even more.»

«Don't worry, my friend.»

Suddenly, three soldiers entered the barrack and stopped right in front of Lucio's cot; one of them was a high officer, and judging from his eyes, surely he wasn't there to award him.

«Centurion Primus Pilum Lucio Sannino?»

«It's me.»

«I'm Tiberio Sempronio Gracco, our Dictator's Quinto Fabio Massimo's Magister Militum**. I'm here to question about the battle you and your unit survived in Cannae.»

«It's been a massacre. That's all I can say.»

«I heard you gave the order to retreat while the battle was still on course.»

The sense of that question was more than eloquent, and his Greek blood almost made Demetrio get up from the stool to answer him properly, but Lucio went before him.

«The battle was almost completely lost. The enemy was just a couple of lines before my unit, and behind us the encirclement was almost completed. I waited till I could, but at the end I had no choice but to order my men to retreat while we could.»

«I understand. So you received no order of retreat by your officers, neither you saw or heard any sort of signal or horn.»

Lucio was well aware that he was condemning himself, but there was no use in lying.

«No, sir. I did by on my own.»

The Magister made a sinister smile, then he turned to his minions.

«Arrest him.»

* * *

The Senate's hall was empty, but Consul Marco Claudio Marcello's words were more than enough to fill it with fear and desperation. At that point, there were no more doubts: Rome was facing the worse tragedy in its history.

«For now, the reports speak of no less than fifty thousand dead, of which no less than half among our army.» Consul read in the report, and each word was like a stab in the back for his chief and friend Quinto Fabio Massimo. «The Carthaginians made ten thousand prisoner approximatively, especially among the third, the sixth and the ninth Legion. Consul Paulo has fallen in battle, as well as almost twenty influent senators voluntarily enlisted for the battle.»

«By Minervae, this is some sort of tragedy.» said the aged dictator. «What about Hannibal and his forces? Are they heading here?»

«Not for now. The spies report that Hannibal's main army is still camped around Cannae. But we received confused reports about an expedition sent against Brundisium*** and other Apulia's cities. Probably he's trying to gain a complete access to the sea, from which he'll be able to receive further reinforcements from Africa.»

A discomforted Fabio Massimo fell on his chair and closed eyes, almost in a vain attempt to believe that it wasn't happening, and all that mess was nothing but a nightmare.

«I will not lie to you, my friend.» Marcello said. «It will be truly difficult to recover from such disaster.» then he paused for a moment, as if he was scared by what he was about to say. «At this point, we must begin to consider seriously that the Republic might not survive this war.»

Hearing this and imagining what his Consul was thinking to, Massimo felt a wave of vigor exploding again in his chest.

«This is out of question! We have already discussed about this! It would be like admit defeat in front of these barbarians!»

«With all respect my friends, there are moments when we must simply put apart our pride, and start thinking of what we can do to try to salvage as much as we can.»

The dictator temporized, nervously turning his Family ring around the finger.

«If someone should know it…»

«No one will know it. If we still succeed in reversing the tides of the conflict, this story will be simply removed from the pages of our history. But if our time has truly come, at least we'll die knowing that Rome will not die with us.

You should consider this carefully, my friend.»

A discomforted Massimo looked to the ground, unable to make a choice: as a Dictator, his first duty was to assure the Republic's salvation, but at the same time, as a man and a Roman, he simply couldn't accept that he had to die knowing that nothing of his civilization would remain.

«This could require a lot of time.» he said as if he was trying to find a justification. «And now…»

But before he could say more, Marcello took a wax tablet from inside his toga.

«Not necessarily.» he said, handing it to him

Massimo read it, but what he saw made him even angrier.

«What's the meaning of this? I never approved such thing!»

«The Senate did it, when they understood that you was too scared to act.»

«This is high treason, you fucking…»

«It's time to put apart pride and honor Massimo! It's the same survival of our own civilization to be at stake!»

That was true. And it was perfectly useless to try deny it.

«And what about the detachment? We don't have soldiers to waste at now.»

«We trained a selected legion in secret. It should be more than enough for our purposes.»

«I understand. And I suppose you have someone in mind for the command already.»

«Actually… yes.»

* * *

Lucio didn't expect nothing different.

He knew the consequences of his decision even before taking it. After all, rules were clear: retreating or falling back without a clear order from a high officer was like desert, and for a deserter the pain was to be whipped and crucified.

At least, by placing all responsibility on himself he had been able to avoid the same fate even to his seconds in command and other petty officers of the unit, but now he had to pay the price of his choice.

While closed in that tiny cell, he kept on thinking to his son and daughter waiting for him in the Aventino; with the prison ruler's authorization he had already sent a letter to his sister in law, praying her to keep on caring them as their adoptive mother, since there was no hope for him to return alive.

Now, everything was in the hands of the Gods, and the thought that he was about to reunite with his beloved wife was the same thing capable of giving him a bit of hope.

For days, he spent all time praying Mighty Mars to forgive him for his cowardice, Wise Minerva to intercede for his soul's safety with her noble father Jupiter, and Lord Pluto to let him see Giulia in the afterlife. However, days and night kept on passing, and no one more came to take him to lead him at the scaffold: maybe they wanted to inflict him one more pain by making his mind break due to the tension.

But it would've been useless: he had already seen too much horror, so there was no hope for his mind to break for such a small thing.

Then, the seventh day, he finally heard the guards on the other side of the wall making his name, so he immediately kneeled to pray for the last time.

«Lord Pluto, I entrust you my soul. Please, be merciful, and let me see Giulia just once when I'll be in your realm. Then, I'll be completely in your hands. Mighty Mars, once again I beg your pardon for having turned by back to the battlefield. I did it only to save my soldiers, so that they could keep on fighting in your name. Punish me if you think I deserve it, but please be merciful with all those young soldiers, that accepted to escape with the sole purpose of being able to offer you more blood and flesh in the battles to come. Wise Minerva, as you did with Ulysses, please pray in front of all Gods for my soul's safety. In swear that my sons will offer you rabbits, doves and lambs for ten years in exchange for your mercy. This is mi vow, Wise Minerva.»

«Centurion Lucio Sannino, stand up!» suddenly said the guard while opening the door of the cell.

Lucio obeyed and turned, more than sure to see him followed by a couple of legionaries ready to lead him at the forum for the execution; instead, he found himself face to face with the most unexpected person he could imagine.

«What a strange place to find you again after so many years, Centurion.»

«G… General Massimo.»

«Consul Massimo, if you can.» said the aged soldier while smiling. «There's been a few changes after our last meeting.»

«I… I'm sorry!» Lucio said immediately standing at attention. «I'm sorry, Consul! I beg you pardon.»

«At ease, Centurion.»

«Centurion Sannino.» said the guard. «From now on, you're put under Consul Massimo's authority.»

«Your… authority!?»

«Did you hear him? Come on, follow me.»

At that point, a more than stunned Lucio followed Massimo outside the prison, and once outside the young centurion found the place pervaded by the most absolute confusion, a clear sign that probably Canusium too was about to be evacuated.

«What's happening?»

«The Carthaginians are sieging Brundisium and other cities of the coast, and since when the news of the disaster in Cannae has spread, the entire Apulia has started uprising against us. Orders are to abandon Canusium and relocate closer to Rome. Meanwhile, I'll lead an expedition force against the Greek cities in Sicilia. If we succeed, we'll have deprived Hannibal of a certain number of powerful allies.»

«So we too are moving?»

«Not exactly. Before heading south, I have one more thing to do in Rome. And fortunately, someone has been smart enough to warn me of what was happening.»

«Wait. You mean that… you was searching for me?»

«We'll talk about later. Come on, follow me.»

Then, Massimo leaded Lucio at the stables, where a couple of warhorses were ready for them.

«Change your clothes.» the Consul said while throwing away his armor and toga and replacing them with the poor tabard of a farmer. «It's better if they don't understand who we really are.»

«What!? But… I don't understand.»

«It's not difficult. We'll travel alone, and it's become quite dangerous out there, especially if you seems a Roman.»

«Alone!? You mean… no escort!?»

«You'll understand at the right moment. Now move!»

Even if he had no idea of the reason for all that secrecy or what was happening, Lucio chose to trust the same General for which he had fought so much battles and obeyed.

Then, once completely transformed, the two Romans left the stables, immediately jumping on their horses.

«Come on, let's go.» Massimo said, and they both headed toward the northern door.

 ** _Notes_**

 _ ***Canusium:** Today, Canosa di Puglia_

 _ ****Magister Militum:** A Dictator's lieutenent entrusted for all military affairs_

 _ *****Brundisium:** Today, Brindisi_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Author's Notes_**

 _Hi to everyone!^^_

 _It's been quite difficult to find the right inspiration, but finally I'm back with this second chapter of the first story dedicated to the origin of the Empire._

 _Phew, how exausting!^^ I had to recover most of my past school years' knowledge in Ancient History to find the names of most of the historical characters which appear in this story!^^_

 _I hope at least that the final result will be quite interesting._

 _Starting from tomorrow I'll start working on the first chapter of Gate - Last Esape, but I'll try to update even this one if possible._

 _See you soon!^_^_

 _Cj Spencer_

* * *

2

Once left Canusium, Lucio and Marcello rode for days, crossing almost half of the Italian peninsula and even some regions already under Hannibal's control.

And exactly like the General had said, for the most time they traveled alone, occasionally protected and escorted by a couple of guards during the most dangerous routes across the mountains.

At a certain point, to make their disguise even more credible, after having replaced their gladius with common swords taken by a couple of bandits killed along the road, Marcello even ordered Lucio stop using Latin and speak instead his ancestors' dialect, something he had stopped doing since the day he was called to serve as a soldier.

Lucio was unable to understand the reason behind all that secrecy, and no matter how many times he tried to have an explanation, his General had no intention to give him some sort of answer.

«You'll understand everything at the proper moment.» he simply kept on saying.

Once left Apulia, they traveled close to Adriatic coast till Ankon, trying to stay far from the most frequented routes; then they took the Southern Flaminia Road heading south-west. Lucio thought they were simply heading Rome, taking a longer and unusual way just to avoid unexpected encounters, and after six more days, they ultimately reached Narnia, the last important city before reaching the capital, and surely, one of the most important cities of the peninsula already fell under Carthaginian control.

But Lucio's convictions about their ultimate destination were overturned that same evening, while they were waiting for their poor soup sat in a dirty tavern close to the city's main gate.

«Tomorrow morning» said Marcello «We'll leave before sunrise and head north. If we proceed fast, we'll be at destination before noon.»»

«North!? But sir, there are no way heading north from here.»

«Not officially. There's a small village not far from here, lost in the forest. Our destination is not far from there.»

«I don't understand. What's so important about that village to justify all this secrecy?»

«I've told you many times. You'll understand everything once there. Don't worry, all answers are just a few miles far from here.»

Suddenly, a group of Gaul mercenaries entered the tavern, bringing with them a young and very scared girl with a respectable but quite dirty dress. Probably she was the slave of a noble family, or maybe even a noble herself, forced to be sold by her parents like an animal to those barbaric friends of the enemy in exchange for safety.

Once sat, they forced that poor girl to serve them wine, and for someone like her the smell of their stinky and sweaty bodies was something almost impossible to suffer, even if for now she was too much scared by those beasts to pay attention at their smell.

At that point, Lucio's eyes turned red for rage.

«Disgusting barbarians.»

«What you think to do?» Marcello asked when the Centurion tried to get up

«Sir, we must do something. We cannot let them torment that girl. She's Roman.»

«Remember? We must absolutely avoid attracting attention. These kind of things happen everywhere in the occupied territories.»

Lucio tried to obey, but the sight of that poor girl used as some sort of plaything by those barbarians was simply intolerable. However, the moment he seriously tried to get up, he felt the point of a knife pressed against his right flank.

«Just try it, and by Heracles I'll kill you with my hands.»

Marcello's eyes when Lucio turned to watch them were more than eloquent: he wasn't joking.

«G… General…»

So, at the end, all Lucio could do was watch those filthy beasts humiliate that girl, completely powerless.

«Lucio.» Marcello threateningly said when he tried to get up in any case.

«Relax, General. I'm going sleep. I lost the appetite.»

* * *

The next morning, according with Marcello's words, the two Romans left the inn before dawn, paying a bribe to the guards to let them leave the city before the doors were opened.

They headed north, as Marcello had said, initially following a known but little used road, but after a couple of miles the General ordered to leave the trail for a shorter, almost invisible pathway that in a few minutes leaded both of them in the heart of a deep forest.

Lucio was more and more confused, but at least among those trees the unstoppable heat of the Italian summer was a bit more bearable, and the images of the evening before were still too much impressed in his mind to pursuing him in trying to imagine where in the world they were heading.

A pleasurable wind blew in the branches, and the sounds of the forest echoed all around them; but suddenly, everything silenced, and Lucio and Marcello suddenly found herself in a so deep and dense mist that Lucio was barely able to see the General less than five meters in front of him.

«What the…»

Apart for the fact that the mist had appeared without warning, and for sure in the wrong period of the year, there was something incredibly strange on it: it was so sinister, and even if it was clearly impossible so apparently… unnatural.

«By Heracles. What in the earth his this mist?»

«This mist is what everything started with. Almost three years ago, the legatus of a village not far from here sent a report to Rome, speaking of a strange mist that suddenly appeared in the forest not far from the village without fading anymore. Initially we thought he was just a fake report, but he kept on signaling the problem, so at the end we had no choice but send someone here to investigate.

When we understood that he was saying the truth, we tried all sort of things to try solving the problem: we sent oracles and priests to try speaking with the Gods, but their prayers and calls produced no results, and some of them even vanished in the fog without reappearing.

Finally, the Senate made the decision of sending a small unit in search for both the missing priests and some sort of explanation, with the order of not coming back without answers.

I was the leader of that expedition.»

«You!?»

«For days we walked in the mist, trying as possible to not get lost, and we didn't take long to find some of the missing ones, or what was left of them.»

«L… left!?»

«They had been killed. Slaughtered, to be clearer. And whoever did it, was clearly not human. We also saw them, hiding in the mist, too much scared by our weapons and numbers to try do the same.»

Hearing this, Lucio felt a shiver along the spine and started looking around in search of any sort of strange movement in the brushes around them.

«Don't worry. After a bit of time, they stopped appearing. For a moment, we feared they could have left the mist, so we searched for their traces and started following them. And that' s how we found it.»

«You found… what!?»

«You'll see it.»

At a certain moment, following a road he was the sole to know, Marcello ordered Lucio to leave even that small pathway and started climbing the mountain; there were no signs, no traces indicating a preexistent trait: they were proceeding across nothing.

Despite this, after two more hours of marching, an embankment surmounted by a low wooden wall appeared from nowhere in front of them, and the voice of an invisible sentinel, hidden from the even more dense fog, came from the inside.

«Halt, in the name of Rome! Who are you?»

«I'm Consul Marco Claudio Marcello! I'm here by order of the Senate!»

«Open the doors!»

Marcello and Lucio walked along the wall until they reached the camp's door, and once crossed it the centurion found itself inside of a big and very well defended Roman camp. The moment they finally got off the horses, a Commander came to greet them.

«Welcome back, Consul.»

«Lucio, this is Valerio Decimo, the commander of this castrum. Decimo, this is Lucio Sannino. He served under my command during the Gallic wars.»

Decimo carefully looked at Lucio, as if he was trying to understand better his true nature.

«It's him, sir?» he asked to Marcello

«I hope so. Any news?»

«Nothing, Sir. Everything is quiet on the other side.»

«The other side!?» said an even more confused Lucio. «The other side of what?»

Marcello and the Commander looked each other, then the both of them led Lucio toward the heart of the castrum; during the walk, Lucio noted one more important thing: unlike most castrum, that one was not built in an open field, and surrounded by walls in all directions. Instead, the entire northern wall was nothing but the flank of a low cliff, excavated and molded to become easily defendable and with three watchtowers placed on the top.

But the thing that most impressed Lucio was that there was some sort of hole in the stone, right at the center of the wall; probably it was the entrance to a deep cave, firmly closed by massive doors and carefully surveilled doors.

«Open the doors!» Decimo commended, and in the blink of an eye almost fifty legionaries formed a wall between them and the cave, threateningly pointing bows and lances toward the doors while some of their comrades laboriously opened them.

At that point, Marcello took a torch and headed toward the hole.

«Follow me.» he said, and a timid Lucio hesitantly obeyed.

* * *

Immediately after Lucio and Marcello had crossed the door, these were instantly closed behind them, leaving the two men surrounded in almost complete darkness.

The light of the torch was barely enough to reveal the damp walls of the cave.

«Watch out to not stumble, and do not lose sight of me.» the Consul said. «If you get lost inside here, I cannot guarantee for your return.»

«What!?»

«Come on, let's move.»

At that point, they started descending along the cave, and for each step the darkness all around them to grow thicker, and the cave bigger, at the point that soon the torch became no more able to light up the walls.

Lucio needed to pay a lot of efforts to not lose eye contact with Marcello, so he had no time to look around in search for a something in the darkness; then, after a long time, he lowered his eyes to the ground almost by accident, and what he saw left him shocked and speechless.

That was incredible. There was no more stone and pebbles under his sandals: there was… nothing. It was almost as if he was walking on nothing.

«What… what the…»

«Just try to resist. We're almost there.»

And in fact, after an undetermined period spent waking in the most complete darkness, earth appeared again under their feet, and before Lucio could note it, Marcello's torch lighted another closed door, behind which he was able to hear apparently human voices and other noises.

«Here we are.» the Consul said, than he vigorously knocked three times

After a moment, a voice answered from the other side.

«Watchword.»

«Vae Victis.»

Then, after a couple of moments, the locks were removed, and when the doors finally opened, a beam of light hit Lucio right in his face.

The centurion's eyes needed a moment to get used to all that light after so much time spent in the darkness, and when Lucio was finally able to look around, he remained speechless.

The cave, the forest, the fog, the same camp: everything was vanished. At their place, there were now a vast and verdant plain surrounded by quiet woods and high mountains, a clear and blue sky and a pleasurable, almost alpine sun.

Instead of a simple castrum, Lucio understood very soon that now he and Marcello were in the heart of a proper and true citadel, built according to the usual Roman scheme and surrounded by a strong palisade placed on the top of an high embankment. The place was full of people, legionaries for the most part, but even a certain number of civilians from the most different social classes, from the apparently nobles to the most humble servants.

«By… Heracles…»

Only in a second moment, the centurion thought to look above and behind him, in search for the place from which they had just arrived: but instead of the cave, Lucio noted that now they were at the foot of a temple-like building, completely white and with high columns placed on both sides: however, once again, it was impossible to see the inside, since a few steps after the doors there was nothing but darkness.

«Welcome to the new Rome, Centurion.» Marcello said

«The new… Rome!? But… what is this place? Where… are we?»

«This is a nice question. I too would like to know it. We called the best cartographers and astronomers we had, but no one has been able to tell us exactly what place this is. Maybe we're somewhere in our world, maybe even in another world, but there's one thing certain: we're far, really far from our peninsula.»

An astonished Lucio took a strange flower from the ground, looking it in disbelief.

«Everything seems so similar.»

«In my life as a soldier, I traveled in almost all known lands. And even if some things are identical, I've never seen the stars that appear in the sky at night, or some of the beasts that live in these forests.»

«Beasts? Like the ones that attacked the priests on the other side of this… tunnel?»

«We don't know it yet. We created this castrum on this side right to avoid other attacks, but since then we faced no more attacks. Whoever they were, probably they know that they're no match for us. And this is a good thing. Initially we were planning to explore the outer region, but when Hannibal attacked, any operation immediately stopped, and apart for the soldiers strictly necessary to protect both sides all other personnel has been call back in Rome for the war.»

Then, it was the moment for the most important question.

«Why did you bring me here, General?»

«Don't you imagine?»

«Sir?»

Marcello looked at the ground, and when he turned again to Lucio, there was some sort of discomforted surrender in his eyes.

«Cannae's one has been something more than a mere defeat. It's been a tragedy. And honestly, there are many ones who think that maybe this is not a war we can win.»

A shocked Lucio looked at him.

«What!?»

«You were there, Lucio. You've seen it. Hannibal is the greatest tactician I've ever seen. He wiped away almost our entire army in a few minutes, and now there's nothing to stop him in his march toward Rome.

It's sad and terrible to say it, but probably our history as a free and independent nation is about to end.»

Lucio couldn't believe it: he was simply unable to accept the fact that the same Marcello he had fought for so many times was saying something similar right before him.

«No. This can't be true.»

«Trust me, I too refused to believe this thing many times. I thought that our Republic wasn't destined to die so soon. But too much mistakes have been made during this war. The first one has been to underestimate Hannibal just because we considered him a barbarian.»

Then, Marcello turned toward the temple behind them.

«But maybe, it's not too late. This thig, this… gate. It could be the solution.»

«The solution… to what?»

«Obviously we cannot surrender without fighting. We've already prepared everything for a last stand, and even to try fight back if there will be the occasion. Rome will not fall easily, but we cannot exclude that it might fall in any case. So, we have to do whatever we can to prevent our culture from dying with us.»

At that point, Lucio began understanding.

«Do you understand? The gate is a gift. A gift from the Gods. They're telling us that no matter what, Rome must not die. And if the time for Rome has truly over there, maybe we can still try to rebuild it right here.»

«Do you really want… to move Rome here?»

«Not Rome. It would be impossible, and as I said, most of us simply refuse the idea of running away, not to mention that despite everything we may still be able to win.

But its heart… its soul… they need to be protected.

That's why we're building all this. An entire new city to protect our own civilization from extinction.

Everything we'll be exactly like in the Republic. The same rules, the same system. The Senate will manage the political affairs, the army will provide protection from the beasts out there.»

«The… Senate!?»

«Everything has been set already. Eighty of the most respected senators from all factions. Officially, they're dead during the last battle in Cannae. And as you can see, even the civilians have started reaching the settlement already. For now they're the inhabitants of that village close to the gate on the other side for the most part, but we're settling things to send even more people.

Now, all that remains is the key people of the army. We're still searching for a trustworthy Commander to lead the two legions assigned to this place.»

Once again, Marcello's eyes proved being more eloquent than any useless word.

«You… you mean… me!?»

«I've seen you fight many times, and I heard of your behavior in Cannae. You've been really extraordinary to leave that siege alive, and you also saved almost all your men.»

Lucio couldn't believe it.

«But… I'm just a Centurion. I have no experience as a Commander. And I was about to be crucified right because I disobeyed orders during the battle.»

«This is no place for a strutting General always watching for the rules. Considering the kind of place you'll be assigned, I need someone highly adaptable and able to get away even in the most complicated situations. Someone like you.

You'll be promoted to Consul, you'll be left free to choose your officers and councilors. And as long as the Senate of this place will not choose to fire you, your will be a lifetime office.»

The centurion jumped in place in dismay.

«Lifetime!? Wait a minute. You mean that… there would be no return?»

«If Rome will die, yes. The Senate has already given proper orders. The same existence of the gate has been kept absolutely secret. We're choosing the colonists carefully, trying as possible to choose people with no particular links or relatives that would be left behind. Of course, whenever we succeeded in overthrowing the course of the war, you'll be immediately called back, since we neither have any idea of how much time this thing will remain open.» then Marcello's glance became dark and sinister. «But if Rome will fall, we'll not allow to Hannibal to wipe away our civilization completely. The day when our Republic should fall, the gate will be destroyed.»

It was obvious. But even if that was the sort of proposal that anyone would have been happy to accept, Lucio felt he had neither courage nor experience to do something similar.

«I… I don't know if I can. I mean… this is far more anything I've ever done. And in any case, the idea of escaping is… I cannot abandon my Country like this, right now that it needs my help.»

«Maybe you forget your actual position.» said Marcello in a way that scared Lucio to the death. «As you said, you were about to be crucified. We're not in position to kill our own soldiers, and probably we'll need to enlist anyone who is able to hold a sword; however, there's still someone in our dying Republic that despite everything still thinks that the Martial Law still counts more than anything else. And even if now everyone know that you're one of my men, I don't know if this will be enough to save you.»

Lucio felt again that shiver.

He had to choose between turning his back to his Country to lead a mission with countless responsibilities and unknowns at the same time or coming back and pray the Gods to live enough to see the now more than probable fall of Rome.

«Gods almighty… give me strength…»

«I don't thing Gods will answer.» said an almost discomforted Marcello. «Because they too are in your hands. If Rome falls, no one will remain to worship them.»

At that point, Lucio fell to his knees and looked above, trying to find some answers in that blue sky so similar to the one of his motherland. What all that was happening to him? Why the Gods had chosen right him to save his own civilization?

«Ok, that's enough for today.» Marcello said. «I suppose you need to reflect a bit. Come, I'll take you home.»

* * *

Once crossed the gate once again, and coming back to the same place previously left, Marcello and Lucio set off for Rome, and for almost the entire journey Lucio was so shocked and devastated in his soul that he almost didn't speak.

When they finally reached the city in a moonless night, everything was so apparently calm and usual: the streets were deserted, and at a first sight, it almost seemed that nothing happened Cannae.

But the truth was that there was not a single home in the entire city where someone wasn't crying for a relative perished in that cursed battle, and this became obvious when Lucio heard silent cries coming from every single windows under which they passed.

«The Senate had forbidden each sign of mourning in public.» Marcello explained. «At now, we have no need of further pessimism or fear for the future.»

Silently, they reached a poor group of houses in the Aventino, and Lucio felt a twinge in his chest when he saw again his home for a first time after so much time.

«Remember what I said.» Marcello said. «No one has to know about this. If we find out you've talked about the gate or our plan with someone, you'll be dead before knowing.»

«I know it.» Lucio said with a whisper of a voice

«All right. I leave you some time to think about it. The last group of colonists should arrive from Hispania within days. I'll be in Ostia waiting for them, and once completed the final census we'll start with the final part of the project. If you choose to accept my offer, you know where to find me.»

Then, Marcello turned his horse and came back to where he had come from.

«What if I refuse?» the centurion said in an almost provocative tone

«The cross, probably.» Marcello said before vanishing behind a curve.


End file.
